PROBLEM SOLVING

ASSIGNMENT

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S K . 3 .B
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s o lv t u d e n t i
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o b je w o r d
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ith in
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Veronica Herrero-Velarde
 TEKS K.3.B
Name: ________________________________________________

Valentine’s Day
Problem Solving
On Valentine’s Day, Rose got 10 pieces of
candy. She ate 5. How many pieces of
candy does Rose have now?

Answer
 Differentiated Worksheet TEKS K.3.B
Name: ________________________________________________

Valentine’s Day
Problem Solving
On Valentine’s Day, Rose got 10 pieces of
candy. She ate 5. How many pieces of
candy does Rose have now?
Picture Tallies

Number
Line

Tens Frame

Number Sentence

_____ - _____ =

Answer
Veronica Herrero-Velarde
Dr. Rogers
INDC 4380
February 11, 2021
Problem Solving Assignment
Grade: Kindergarten Standard: TEKS K.3.B

Learning Objective: The student is expected to solve word problems using objects and drawings to
find sums up to 10 and differences within 10.

Problem: On Valentine’s Day, Rose got 10 pieces of candy. She ate 5. How many pieces of candy does
Rose have now?

Possible Strategies: Draw a picture, use tally marks, make a number line, use a tens frame, write a
number sentence, or model it with manipulatives.
Differentiation
Struggling Students: The teacher can provide manipulatives to students so that they can visualize
the problem and model it in a way that is tangible and concrete. The teacher can encourage the
student to ”act out” the problem. The student can pretend they have 10 pieces of candy and “eat”
5 of them by pushing them away, leaving the remaining pieces. Then, the student can draw a
picture based on what they just did with the manipulatives. If the student is still struggling, the
teacher can use smaller numbers or model an example with the student, asking the student to
share his thought process all the while. Lastly, the teacher could provide a version of the
worksheet with the same problem that has designated areas for different strategies to serve as a
reminder for the student while still allowing him to do the work (see differentiated worksheet).

English Learners (ELs): As with struggling students, manipulatives and modeling can be very helpful
for ELs, and they can “act out” the problem the same way. It is important to make sure that the
students understand what the problem is asking; the teacher can go over key information in the
problem like “ate” (not understanding the significance of this word would mean the student may not
know this is a subtraction problem) and review numbers like “10” and “5”. Additionally, the context of
the problem could be changed to relate more to the student’s life and experiences, if (for example)
the student is unfamiliar with Valentine’s Day.
Advanced Students: The teacher can challenge advanced students to solve the problem using
different strategies than the one(s) they used. Students can even explain their strategies verbally
or in writing. If an extra challenge is needed, the teacher could use larger numbers, such as 17 and
8. Additionally, the problem could be made more in-depth by adding in multiple steps. For example,
“Rose then found 2 more pieces of candy in her bag. How many pieces does she have altogether?”
could be added to the end of the original. Lastly, the worksheet can be given without the pictures
pre-drawn.
Questions
• What is happening if Rose is eating candy? Is she getting more candy or less candy?
• What strategy did you use to solve this problem?
• How did you know to use that strategy? Why did you pick that strategy?
• Will that strategy always work? When will it work?
• How does your [picture/number line/tens frame, etc.] connect to your number sentence?
• Did you try a strategy that didn’t work?
• How do you know your answer is correct?
• What are our parts in this problem? Our whole?